Basil Montesquieu

Basil Montesquieu (1756-) was the Consul of the French First Republic in 1789 during the French Revolution. Montesquieu belonged to the radical Jacobin Club, and he was responsible for France's aggressive foreign policy during the early 1790s.

Biography
Basil Montesquieu was born in Paris, France in 1756 to a family of bankers from the Third Estate. He was a skilled merchant and was known for his honesty, endearing him to the people; he also became a tactician as the result of his service in the French Army during the American Revolutionary War. Montesquieu would be elected to the Estates-General when it was called into session in 1789, and he represented the liberal faction of the Jacobin Club. Montesquieu believed that the French Revolution could only succeed if France's reactionary neighbors were overcome by France's republican fervor, and he supported the declaration of war against Austria, Prussia, Britain, the United Provinces, the Russian Empire, Westphalia, Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Poland-Lithuania, and Savoy at the start of the conflict. French troops would conquer Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Westphalia, and the Netherlands in the first few years of the conflict, and patriotic sentiment skyrocketed due to France's victories on the field.